Today I called every where I could that the vets referred me to that might see chickens. It took a while but I finally tracked down someone who would see and possibly operate on Big Red if needed.
Luckily it was one of the closest vets to us. I have never really been found of her. But today I gave it another go to try to save Big Red.
I had an appointment at 2:30pm. I tried to go back to sleep for a while before the appointment but I never got too. So I drove over there on 2 hours of sleep and of course as soon as I leave the house I start feeling like crap and getting lite headed. Thinking this would be a short trip I had locked Roxie up for the first time since her Heartworm treatment and had my Mom come and check on her ever half hour or so. But the short tripped turned into hours. Big Red panted all the way to the vet worrying me. The waiting room was full when I got there. Its a small waiting room but there was a good number of people ahead of me. About 3:30pm I was still sitting in the waiting room listening to two annoying ladies talking about how wonderful breeding dogs is. They were both dog breeders. One bred Mastiffs and the other bred Great Danes and Staphy Mixes. Can you be more irresponsible? NO .... Big Red did seem to get more comfortable in her crate and finally stopped panting. I wanted..and waited... and waited... some more.... The last case the vet seen was a lady with a very sick puppy. She doesn't think they puppy will make it. But they people are trying to save his life. So they had to leave him there attached to an IV. So I didn't mind waiting while the little puppy got emergency treatment. Finally the vet came and got me. Then poor Big Red got had to go through more pain. The vet cleaned it a little sprayed something on it. Checked her vent to see if she was egg bound. She didn't find anything. Then she sprayed anesthetic spray all over her skinned spot. She said there was alot of dead skin. I told her that the other vet had said she couldn't stitch her up. This vet said she was going to staple what she could. So then she started cutting the dead skin off and scrapping the big part so that the live skin would be showing. Then she stapled two places to the best of her ability and said the skin would have to regrow over the rest. She said she does have alot of infection and gave her a Batryle shot and gave me some pills to start tomorrow. She told me to pack the wound with neosporine where she had stapled it back together. Then she told me to use gauze pads with a mixture of 1 Cup beach to 9 Cups water to keep on her wound so that it will stay clean and moist. I am supposed to change that 2 to 3 times a day. I need to keep it wet at all times and the edges of the wound open. Then they put a little gauze shirt onto her and placed a gauze pad under it. At one point throughout the visit she flipped Red over to look at her belly and she regurgitated some of the liquid from her crop and that scared me... But after they set her back up she seemed ok again. I came home and put the first gauze with Clorox water and packed her wound with neosporine. I have my fingers crossed and I have been praying all day that she will recover from this. But the vet said it is really up to her body being able to fight off the infection and not going into shock. One good thing though is she still eats out of my hands and drinks from the bowl when I pick it up.
Today before we went she was drinking and eating a little. I know she is a strong girl and I know its going to take time. So I am really hoping she will take that spunk she still has a little of and pull through this rough time.
Will post pictures of her wound later.
Update- I just spoke with an Avian vet in Mo-town and he is really nice and answered all my questions. He is like me since the infection is in her abdomn and her belly is swollen it is probably from dropping yolks into her belly. So he said after the infection is treated and she is doing better and her wound is healing to bring her in and he will give her an exam and tell me whats going on. He also said they have a very good success rate with the surgery to take out the oviduct so she will stop laying. He said every once in a while he while a chicken will keep laying internally but most of the time after they remove that the chicken will stop laying eggs all together. He said although birds and anesthetization isn't the best chickens and hardy and stand up pretty well as long as they are healthy when anesthetized. He said that the most important thing is to get her to eat and drink as much as possible. Even if it is just sunflower seeds. He said it is ok to let her have them right now since she is sick and that is her favorite but after that to make sure she only eats small amounts since they are high in fat and calories. He also said the skin that dies normally does in the first 5 to 14 days so hopefully the staple stay put and she heals. O yeah and he said the dose of Batryle with a 4.5 lb chicken at 11mg twice a day is a little low but it should be fine. Just to keep a watch. He made me feel better knowing that he is going to see her as soon as she can make the trip! So Thank Dr. Falllon!!! :) He has worked at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.
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